Stock market gains create huge payoffs for executives

9:07 AM,
Mar. 21, 2013

Written by

Gary Strauss
USA TODAY

Wall Street's bull run is helping to create staggering payoffs for CEOs cashing in stock options and shares issued at far lower prices.

Early 2012 corporate filings show a growing swell of CEOs reaping $50 million or more, gains that could prove unmatched in breadth and size since the Internet IPO craze enriched tech company executives more than a decade ago.

"Some of these numbers are obscene,'' says former compensation consultant John James, director of Pace University's Center for Global Governance, Reporting and Regulation. "But corporate directors have long had the attitude 'How do ...